Aspect of the Void
by Sckribe
Summary: Louise wanted an amazing familiar, and well, out of divine, beautiful, wise, and powerful, Malygos the Spell-Weaver seems to at least fit two out of four. Pre-War of the Ancients Malygos.
1. Chapter 1: The Aspects Arrival

In the country of Tristain, at the famed academy of magic, a small pinkette blew up a classroom yesterday. This young girl is Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere, who we'll just call Louise, is infamous for having failed every spell she's tried to cast rather, explosively. But today she was going to make up for every failed spell, she was going to summon the best familiar out of everyone in the entire class.

"Has everyone summoned their familiars?" Professor Colbert, a balding middle aged man, asked the students as he supervised the springtime familiar summoning ritual.

"Louise hasn't summoned her familiar yet!" The person who said this was Kirche the, for lack of a more tasteful description, 'bountiful' redheaded Germanian who was a rival to Louise.

"Louise, would you please come up and summon your familiar." Colbert said.

Louise walked up, and started to recite the prayer she had practiced so many times,

"My divine, beautiful, wise, and powerful, servant who exists somewhere in this vast world, please come to me!"

 **BOOM.**

The ensuing explosion knocked everybody far back, though thankfully nobody was hurt. As everybody got up, they started with the usual wave of insults, until the dust cloud blew away and revealed what she had summoned, silencing the class.

It was massive, large enough to pick up Sylphid. It's scales reflected the sun's light as they appeared to slowly but constantly shift through various blues, and light silver. It appeared ancient, and its wings seemed almost sinuous, and while impossible, somehow it _felt_ like the dragon was smirking.

It looked to the ground and asked rather calmly "Who summoned me?"

"I-I did." Louise said, now even further in shock that it could talk

"What for?"

"To be my f-familiar."

"I see, then go right ahead."

"Could you bring your head down here then?" Louise said, trying to shake off her shock and ask about all this tomorrow.

The great dragon lowered it's head and with a quick "Pentagon of the five elements, bless this humble being and make them my familiar." Followed by a small kiss, the familiar runes began inscribing themselves onto the massive dragons chest.

"Well, congratulations Miss Valliere, Class dismissed!" Professor Colbert said. Most of the students started levitating back to their rooms, while Louise would be practically skipping back to her room to write a letter to Cattelya as soon as possible.

[Meanwhile back at the summoning grounds]

"I have to admit, I'm impressed the Zero managed to summon a rhyme dragon, especially such a large one." Kirche said.

"Not a rhyme dragon," Tabitha said while slightly shaking her head.

"Not a rhyme dragon? What could it be?"

}—{

Authors note here. Sorry for the short, choppy first chapter, hopefully the next chapters are better, and yes I do hope I'll have the time to make more of these. Please do let me know of any problems at all, be it with how I represent some of the characters or my grammar, which frankly I have no excuses on the grammar side of things. Or if you want to suggest things or constructively criticize or non constructively criticize or insult my mother in the review instead go ahead.


	2. Chapter 2: Dragon Talks

A quick note at the beginning, Bicorn, you are correct. Not only was this short, but also semi-forgotten. Do remember however, and this is to all, not just you so I ain't trying to single anyone out, this is completely casual/hobby for me. I ain't makin money, and you's guys ain't payin. I just write cause I get an idea and I feels like writin. Simple really. Anyways, enough of that, onto the next chapter, and thanks for the extra push Bico.

* * *

"-From Louise, your loving sister.", And such ended the letter Louise had just sent out to her sister Cattleya the previous day. It covered the basics, get well soon wishes, 'The explosions aren't that bad', 'I summoned a rhyme dragon large enough pick up another dragon', the usual and slightly unusual stuff. Speaking of that Louise and that 'Rhyme Dragon', it was currently the day of the void, and Louise was looking around for her familiar.

She was waiting in Vestri court with a hill of questions. She remembered learning before if she willed it the familiar should come to her, so she tried it. Well, so far, not much succes- wait a minute, it's flown out from beneath the treeline and flying over now, Tabitha's dragon too for some reason. They soon arrived, Tabitha's dragon going off to find Tabitha and Louise's settling in Vestri court, somewhat close by where the other students were eating.

"There you are, Finally! Took you long enough." Louise said, as though she weren't talking to a dragon.

"Pardon the delay, summoner, I suppose that feeling I got was you?" Said the dragon.

"Feeling? Anyways, Firstly I have a name you know, It's Louise, and you will refer to me as Mistress Louise, or just Mistress, secondly, I have a lot of questions that you're going to answer." Said Louise, again as though she spoke to a commoner.

"Go ahead then _Mistress_ Louise, I'm always glad to answer questions. And before you might ask, I also have a name, It is Malygos." Said Malygos.

"Are you a rhyme dragon?"

"Based on what I hear a rhyme dragon is, I could be."

"How are you so large?"

"I hatched smaller and just grew, like you mostly."

By now a small crowd had gathered, also eager to ask the dragon questions, or listen in. Within this crowd was Kirche, Tabitha, Her dragon Sylphid tailing behind her, a boy named Guiche with red spots on his cheeks shaped suspiciously like hands, and his particularly annoyed girlfriend Montmorency.

Louise asked "What did you mean earlier when you said, a feeling?"

"For a while until I got here I felt this out of place urge to check on you, It reminded me most of the feeling I got often during the first few weeks after Arygos, Balacgos, and Kirygosa each hatched." Malygos said,

"Who are those?" Louise asked, feeling curious at these new names,

"My sons and daughter." Malygos Said,

"You have a family?" Louise said, rather surprised,

"Of course, I had to settle down eventually." Malygos Said

Throughout all of this many students were whispering to each other about many topics, Tabitha was taking more notes than she did in class it seemed, Sylphid seemed to sleep, being oddly tired, and before Louise could ask another question Kirche walked up and spoke instead,

"Why would you just let yourself be a familiar to Zero here?"

Louise stopped dead still, that one hit where it hurt, and it left her wondering the same too. Why would he just do that?

Malygos blinked once, a second time for much longer, and lowered his head all the way to the ground to the crowd, and spoke facing Louise

"I have my reasons, I would say them, but I don't believe this is a good time to tell them. Regardless, I'll simply say she forcefully summoned me from a long, _long_ , _long_ , distance away. Now, enough on these matters, might I ask you a few questions _Mistress_ Louise?" He seemed to get a little amusement from Louise demanding he call her that. Louise was woken from her brief shock and said

"F-Fine, but only a few!"

"Firstly, Where am I? I can't seem to recognize anything." Malygos asked,

"You're in the Tristain Academy for young mages." Louise said,

"An academy for mages, I don't think I could've been summoned somewhere more perfect for me." Malygos mused to himself "Secondly, do you have any Idea what these runes mean? I cannot for the life of me translate them." He asked.

"No, but I'm certain I could ask a professor to check." Louise said,

"Would you please be so kind? Oh and Finally, Could you just tell me a little about yourself?" Malygos asked.

"M-Me? I am Louise Francoise Le Blanc de la Valliere, third daughter to the house Valliere, student at the Tristain Academy, and daughter of the Duke and Duchess Valliere, a-and Now, summoner of the Rhyme Dragon Malygos." Louise said,

"Well Mistress Louise, I'll be off now to get some rest. I can't believe I ended up spending the whole night up. By the way, the moons here are beautiful at night."

* * *

"You see Tabby!" Kirche said to Tabitha, who had only just finished with notes after Malygos flew off "He Has to be a Rhyme Dragon, he even admitted it!"

Tabitha shook her head, "Not Admission."

Kirche said "What are you taking about Tabby, of course he did!"

Tabitha said "Word Play."

Kirche said "What are you talking about Tabby?"

Tabitha said "Said Could be, not was."

Kirche said "I still don't see how you could believe otherwise. See you some other time Tabby, I have someone to meet."

At that Kirche walked away, Flame following. Tabitha nudged Sylphid awake and spoke quietly when nobody was looking,

"Where were you?"

Sylphid replied "Big Sister Tabitha, I was talking to Malygos! He's a rhyme dragon too!"

Tabitha replied "Proof?"

Sylphid said "He could transform too! We both did and we talked, he looked like an elf, a tall one too."

Tabitha asked "Topic?"

Sylphid said "We talked about a bunch of things, mostly about what it was like around here. He even didn't know I was a Rhyme Dragon for a moment."

Tabitha had to ask at this "Didn't Know?"

Sylphid said "Yeah, he called me a 'Blue Whelp'. I am NOT a whelp!" While her draconic features didn't show it, it wasn't hard to imagine she happened to pout when she was called that. "So I told him I was a Rhyme Dragon, he seemed so confused at that so I had to tell him."

Tabitha said "Alright. Don't tell others anymore."

Sylphid said "Okay Big sis, I promise I won't."

At this, Tabitha went into the academy, headed straight for the Library to find anything at all on dragons. Inside Professor Colbert was looking around various books on the legend of Brimir. Sylphid simply went back into the forest, presumably searching for somewhere to fall asleep.

* * *

So that's it for now. Again, pardon the waits. This ain't much longer than the other really, but hopefully it's enjoyed by some. Wasn't exactly sure of where to go with this chapter but I think this works out well. As usual, Reviews etc appreciated, regardless of content. Well, see y'all next time I update this. Which given that it's me could be a period of time ranging from, Later the same day to never. Hopefully not never. Either way, later.

Oh, before I go, A quick little joke scene.

-Joke Scene-Joke Scene-Joke Scene-Joke Scene-Joke Scene-Joke Scene-Joke Scene-Joke Scene-Joke Scene-Joke Scene-Joke Scene-Joke Scene-

On earth in Japan, there was a young man named Hiraga Saito. He was currently walking back home from hearing his laptop was beyond repair, and could only be scrapped. It was a shame, how else would he spend some of his free time? On his way back home a flyer hit him in the face, it read 'Bored? Nothing to do? Want to gain skills? Win tournaments? Consider Picking up fencing, at (Japanese street name and number here). 'Huh,' He thought 'It sounds interesting, why not. I'll go talk to mom and dad about it, I'm sure they'll be glad to see me out of the house more often anyways.' But the story of Hiraga Saito, consecutive ten time world fencing champion, is an entirely different and unrelated one.


	3. Chapter 3: Plans and Paperwork

The day of the void, a generally relaxing day for most people. The students got a day off after summoning their familiars to either get to know them, perhaps study in their poorer subjects, or just compare with friends. The teachers could relax too, or for the particularly dedicated use the free time on their lesson plans, as Colbert would have been doing had he not been brushing up on Brimiric History. Even the familiars had likely gone from a life in the wild where every animal fends for itself to a life of relative comfort and ease, as well as attention and doting as lifelong companions. Most people, was not all, however, as the common staff had no such luck, but luckily they were used to it, and some may have even briefly enjoyed the yearly break to the sheer monotony of normal day to day tasks as they tried to see just what a bugbear ate, or rather _How_ in the first place it did.

Speaking of the common staff, a young woman in a maids outfit with blue eyes and brown hair, known to her coworkers as Siesta, and to the nobles as 'Maid', had been rather hastily walking across the courtyard as Malygos flew off, and soon approached the young woman she was told to send a message to, Louise.

"My lady, Louise." She had said, to briefly gain her attention,

"Yes, maid?" Louise said, wondering what the maid had the nerve to go up to her for,

"The Headmaster would like to see you soon, he said to discuss changes to your tuition,- In light of your familiar..." Siesta said, her voice shrinking as she spoke.

Louise reacted rather quickly, by immediately disregarding the maid and rushing off to the headmaster's office. 'Even if there are odd rumors around the headmaster,' She thought, 'I can't leave him to wait longer than needed,'.

* * *

Reaching and entering the office of Headmaster Osmond, she was told to take a seat on the other side of his desk, where he sat and his secretary, a young woman known as Longueville stood beside it. A brief moment later as he was organizing some papers, his familiar, a mouse known as Chuchu, had climbed to his shoulder, and he had simply nodded, stroked his beard and spoke, as though a sage parting wisdom atop the mountains,

"Hmm, Green today."

After a glare from said secretary that could probably kill on its own, Osmond had coughed and spoke to Louise,

"So, Louise, I take it the maid I sent had informed you of why you are here,"

"Yes," Louise said, "My tuition."

"Exactly, now luckily we've dealt with large familiars before, and there are actually a few options I must discuss with you, firstly-"

As the two talked, Longueville had eventually tuned them out, realizing she wouldn't be needed for this conversation, and she could get back to a slightly more pressing matter.

Internally panicking.

You see, she was in fact also a thief, a rather renowned thief known as Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt. Her most recent mark was in fact at this very school, the 'Staff of Destruction'. She had already made a somewhat feasible plan, wait for the familiar exhibition when all eyes would be on the princess and familiars, break in with a large golem to bypass the magical securities of the vault it was hidden away in, grab the staff and whatever she could fit in her pockets, get the money from the people who hired her, get the money to Tiffania, rinse and repeat for other jobs. Then a student summoned a dragon.

Sure, that could cause a problem, given the renowned skill of that student, so she had to adjust her plan, such that it would be timed just after the blue hair went through with her performance, then while the dragon is tired and her willpower is low, follow the plan as before. Then the second Brimir-Damned dragon appeared and that went out of the window faster than a suicidal defenestration expert. Even if the dragon was a stupid brute, which sadly it wasn't given how it talked and was a damn _Rhyme Dragon with a Family_ , and how it very choicely used _Translate_ and not understand in reference to its own runes. Even IF it was a brute without intelligence, it was still large enough to rival her largest golem, and sadly beings made out of flesh, scales, and blood tend to have better mobility and reaction speed than dirt.

So yes, as Louise and Osmond discussed the pros and cons of whether to provide food for the _Rhyme Dragon that was supposed to have gone extinct,_ Longueville was taking the time to internally panic and desperately come up with some way around the fact that there would always be at least one _Dragon_ available at almost all times in the school now, except for when _Two Dragons_ would be available.

Longueville had decided that later that night, she would fake having a nightmare, just to have an excuse to let out the scream that's piling in her due to the very, very, real nightmare happening right now. Even if said nightmare was only that way to a thief, with many of the teaching staff actually being relieved that two of their better students, one being a straight success student and the other while in practice explosive was rather earnest with a good upbringing, had summoned said dragons and not some pompous brat or the like. Yes to the teachers, they were actually quite relieved at the safety that the two dragons brought by being around.

Every time Longueville had to fake being relieved as well, she felt like cursing Brimir himself. She kept thinking to herself, 'Of course I couldn't stick to being a more average thief, I just had to take the biggest job as soon as possible to help Tiffania as much as was possible, I couldn't have just stuck to dealing with individual nobles as it was, or even maybe just gotten an actual honest living...'

She looked at Osmond and tuned back into their conversation for a moment, wondering if they were almost done,

Osmond was saying, "Now that you've decided it would be best if the academy provided for your familiar, Malygos I believe, next is the question of how long."

Louise said, "How Long?"

Osmond said, "Yes, some students prefer to stay at the academy over the breaks with their familiars being tended to as normal during the year, and their tuition normally covers that fine, however with a familiar of the size of yours I'm afraid the decision is best made ahead of time so as to give all parties involved proper notice and compensation."

Louise blushed in embarrassment briefly and said, "Yes, of course, I should have gathered that. No, I plan on going back home over the break to see my family."

Osmond said, "Ah, grand. Well, official matters are done, but those aside, how has your family been recently Louise?"

Louise paused, surprised, but said, "Last I heard they were doing well, apparently Cattleya, one of my sisters whose been sick, has been taking some new medicine that seems to be easing the physical symptoms more."

She paused before adding, "But, if I may ask, why do you want to know, Headmaster Osmond?"

"Oh, I've been curious as to how they've been, I'm actually one of Karin's and Duke's old friends, If you'll pardon my admitting my age here," he said sporting a light smile at his own self jest.

"Really? I never knew that, headmaster. But why did you refer to my Father by his title, even if it seems everyone does that, he even insisted myself and my sisters do as well." Louise said, trailing off near the end.

Osmond laughed lightly and said, "Yes, I remember meeting them both when I was younger, in fact, It was me and Chuchu who had introduced them to each other. The two had both been serving under the crown and both were the second children, so they were able to later get married unhindered. I'm personally quite happy that they were able to find joy as their own family even as the less favored siblings. I even remember being notified of their wedding, not invited, they wrote that they _Knew better_ , apparently."

Osmond stopped and realized, "Pardon me Louise, I've been reminiscing too long. You are dismissed to enjoy the rest of the Day of the Void, I'll have Longueville get started on the paperwork immediately."

Longueville bowed slightly and said, "Of course Sir." She walked off to go gather the necessary papers, seeming rather jovial. Then again, knowing that your plan just needs to be delayed until the break, a rather easy fix to her problem, is probably what led to that skip in her step.

As Louise was leaving Osmond's office, he said, "Oh, and Louise?"

"Yes, headmaster?" Louise said as she paused,

"Your father told me long ago that his father actually had an odd naming sense. I mention this because your father's name actually is Duke. It was actually a joke among the two of us before he actually became a Duke. Then it became a punchline." Osmond said, with a smile that felt almost thirty years younger than him.

Longueville too, felt much younger, now that she didn't have to deal with the problem that was a Rhyme Dragon, large enough to eat another dragon, seemed older than even Osmond, and to top it off was,

* * *

"Intelligent, Multilingual, But not Rhyme Dragon," Tabitha said to Kirche after she had asked the Bluenette why she was looking through dragon lore and then what she thought of Louise's familiar.

"Tabby, we've heard it talk, how is there any way it isn't a Rhyme Dragon?" Kirche said,

"Have Reasons," Tabitha said,

"Like what?" Kirche said,

"Secret," Tabitha said,

"Come on Tabby, you can trust me," Kirche said.

Tabitha continued to read her third book that day on dragons and dragon-related topics.

* * *

Surprise! Been a While, hadn't it. Thankfully, I managed to find the time and the will to wirte this up. Sorry for the lack of malygos for those looking forward to that, but hopefully you still enjoyed my protrayal of things on the ZnT/FoZ side.


	4. Chapter 4: Diets and Domestic

Pardon the delays, hope you enjoy.

* * *

Louise walked back to the courtyard from Osmond's office, searching for Malygos and feeling a mix of pride and awkward unease. The pride being a sort of lingering pride, knowing that she had summoned a familiar impressive enough to require extra food and that he shared a trait with her own mother's familiar in size, if not quite to the same scale. The awkward unease being that same awkward unease of any kid spending their parent's money. She was certain they'd understand, probably even be proud, but that didn't cut down what could amount to the price of 2-4 cattle per day.

' _Rule of Steel',_ she tried reminding herself to calm down, which only brought images of whose money she was spending. " _Still_ ," she thought, " _No familiar of a Valliere will have to hunt like a common animal. Besides, nobody could call a rhyme dragon like that common_ ,".

Louise would return to the courtyard just in time to witness a normal scene of familiars and masters socializing, Kirche and Flame with a small gaggle of boys and their familiars, Guiche obsessing over his mole, and Tabitha reading as always, leaned against her now sleeping wind dragon.

Malygos appeared to have been walking around the grounds, if the claw marks were anything to go by. Following them she found Malygos looking in through one of the academy's many windows.

Louise said/yelled, "Familiar, what are you looking at?"

Malygos said, "Oh, hello _Mistress Louise,"_ he stopped to lightly chuckle, "I was looking around the grounds and got caught up with looking into the library here."

Louise stopped and truly took perhaps the first time in the past 2 days to really wrap her mind around her familiar; exceptionally large, supposed to be near extinct due to hunting for their scales, and now it also has enough of an understanding of civilized life as to be able to identify a library.

" _Brimir,"_ Louise thought, " _My familiar could only get more odd if they-"_

"It's almost a shame," Malygos said, forcing Louise out of her reflection, "Had I known I might arrive in this sort of place, I would've tried to bring my reading glasses."

Louise blinked and thought " _Could use magic... that is even weirder in its own way,"_

She then said, "Familiar, did you say reading glasses?"

Malygos nodded, "Yes, my eyesight hasn't failed me, but your books are so small that it can be a touch challenging to read them without glasses. I suppose I might want to make a new pair if I can while I'm here. It's ultimately not too much a problem, luckily. Regardless, pardon me, do you require me for anything?"

Louise mentally shook herself and said, "It's been decided that from now on, your needs will be provided for you by the academy and the Valliere family, so you are not to hunt for anything."

Internally tucking away the need to cast _Conjure Refresments/Food_ for now Malygos said, "Not that it should be my concern, but I cannot imagine that would be easy on your wealth, could it?"

Louise said, "The Valliere family is among the most noble families of all Tristain, how we spend our wealth is of no concern to a familiar, even one as... talkative as you."

Malygos said, "Yes, I see. Your mention of my necessities has reminded me that I have yet to eat since I've arrived. Might I seek out the staff for a meal, _Mistress Louise_ " He lightly laughed again.

Every time he said ' _Mistres_ s _Louise'_ it reminded her far too much of the tone her parents or elder sisters would take when she was much, much younger to play along with her when she pretended to be head of the house, like she didn't really have authority but it was too cute to tell her otherwise.

Louise sighed and said, "Yes, Familiar. Once you've finished I will be riding east to the nearest town and expect you to catch up."

Malygos then nodded once and flew off to circle around the academy and find the staff that took care for the familiars.

* * *

All the familiar involved staff, including Siesta, were currently located in a courtyard to the back of the academy.

Longueville was speaking to them as she read from some papers, "While for the most part the care of familiars will be standard, as you've already seen so far, there will be two unusual cases from this year, neither of which will be staying over break. The first will be a wind dragon, Sylphid, which will need slightly larger meals, as you have already met. The second exception is-"

Longueville's eyes began to look upwards as she paused and cleared her throat before continuing, "The second exception is an exceptionally large rhyme dragon, which appears to be descending on us from the west."

The staff that weren't already looking that way soon turned to see the dragon begin to land. Some of them were caught in his shadow, including the closest two, Siesta and Longueville. Their thoughts at Malygos could be roughly summarized as, " _It reminds me of the stories father used to tell me,"_ and " _I nearly tried to risk taking that on,"_ respectively.

Malygos then lowered his head and said, "I take it you are the _food staff_?"

Most of them froze briefly, even a few that tried to mentally prepare themselves for the dragon speaking, and a few who could've sworn it was calling them the food. " _No, it couldn't be_ ," they told themselves, " _It's just imagined,_ ".

Longueville was the first to speak, "Yes they are," she looked down at her papers, "Malygos, correct?"

Malygos said, "Yes, that is correct."

Longueville turned to them and said, "This is our second exception, The Rhyme Dragon Malygos. Abnormally large, the supposed father of three dragons, and clearly intelligent, who I believe specifically searched for us to provide something to eat. Am I correct?"

The corners of Malygos' mouth turned up slightly and he said, "I am feeling a touch peckish."

* * *

So while they were trying to scrape together enough food to provide him something on short notice, Louise was saddling one of the academy's smaller horses at the stables, when a particular Germanian had passed by,

"Where are you off to Louise? Are you not even spending the Day of the Void at the academy?" Kirche asked,

Louise said, "If you must know, Zerbst, I'm almost out of ink and paper, and even with how much better my familiar is compared to your salamander, buying my reagents will leave less collateral damage than sending my _Rhyme Dragon._ "

"Oh," Kirche said, lightly frowning, "How boring, here I thought you might be doing something interesting, meeting a secret lover perhaps, but no, just shopping and not for anything interesting either."

"Unlike you," Louise said, "Most Tristainians have a sense of shame."

* * *

Later, Louise arrived in town, and began to look around for what she needed, having tied the Academy's horse at the stables. She had already learned that no ink was left and the next shipment would arrive in another two weeks, the date felt important but she couldn't remember why. She had managed to get some more of the common reagents at the least.

Walking about she overheard a commotion from an armory and, like a few others who were lingering, listened in briefly,

"Damn it!" A man's voice shouted, "That's the fifth time today you've driven away my customers! Why can't you ever learn to shut up for once!"

A silence that those outside could interpret as the other side responding, before the man continued, "No, Shut it! I'm sick of you ruining my business during the day and you never let me get any good sleep at night with your constant stream of nonsense! I swear to Brimir if you lose me so much as one more customer in the next month I am going to take you to the forge and beat your mouth shut so I can be done with it! I don't want to hear even a sound from you for a week!"

" _Oh, Brimir,"_ thought Louise, " _That has to be the worst domestic dispute I could even consider possible, not even in one of Cattleya's drama books did it get this bad."_

Even those who were still listening were muttering, "How abusive-""To his wife like that-" "Unmarried" "Maybe other family-" "A Kid?" "-has no kids-""Still terrible."

Louise stopped lingering, now taking some time to window shop. After a short while of looking around the market, not quite all the way through, she heard a small commotion as she walked out from a shop selling various teas, the one she got being for Cattleya, and she saw in the distance Malygos' head looming just barely over the buildings. It was only then she realized, she had forgotten the streets simply couldn't have enough room to accommodate the dragon. She scolded herself for that lapse in judgment and continued on her way. She would later return to the Academy with her previous purchases and a small amount of horse's hay while Malygos flew behind, generally scaring the excrement out of any would be bandits that may or may not have been there. To explain the hay, it wasn't required to get any feed for the horses borrowed from the academy, but it was generally seen as good form to do so.

* * *

"My apologies, Count Mott," Osmond said, "But I am afraid that for the next few years we will need every hand we can afford, so I can not allow you to buy any of our contracts."

"This is nonsense! Nothing has ever warranted this before, what does now?" Mott said.

Osmond simply got up, and walked to one of the windows in his office, this one overlooking the front of the school, beckoning Mott over. Once Mott had walked over, Osmond pointed through the window at Malygos in the distance and said, "That, Count Mott, is a rhyme dragon." Osmond held up a finger to stop Mott from interrupting, "It has also, whether intentionally or not, admitted to knowing multiple languages, being the patriarch of a family based social structure at least somewhat resembling ours, responds with amusement to their summoner's authority like an adult to a child, and was summoned by the youngest daughter of Karin 'The Heavy Wind' Valliere, the square class wind knight famous for her temperament and will."

As the distance shrunk and Malygos slowly kept growing larger Mott said, "Ah, my apologies for presuming Headmaster Osmond. I understand I must have appeared unreasonable, haven't I?"

Osmond shook his head and said, "You did not know, it is fine."

Mott said, "Still, I have taken up much of your valuable time, so I shall be taking my leave immediately. I wish you a good few years and the best of luck, headmaster."

Osmond said, "Thank you and pleasant travels Count Mott."

So, not much later that day, Count Mott made a 'Tactical Retreat' (See: Ran Away) to his land and had later decided the less contact he could manage with the Valliere's without losing much face, the better.

* * *

As Malygos flew back behind Louise, he couldn't help but smile inwardly to himself. He thought, " _This provides me with so many chances to do research on the local magic, it feels a touch different than the magic of Azeroth. Of course, I have to wait given the obligations the magic that summoned me tied me to in the first place, but at the end of the day it's actually quite relaxing. The rest of the flight is smart enough to handle themselves while I'm gone, I had no urgent experiments that weren't also being done by at least four others in the flight, and my only real responsibilities here are to chaperone and assist one mortal mage. For only that I have easy access to an academy for mages, plenty of opportunities to mess with the mortals, and even have my food provided for me. Yes, this is a vacation in all respects. An earned break I'll tell myself."_

* * *

Louise had later returned to her room in the academy, and found herself savoring the last of the day where she wouldn't have to go back to being the zero who can only blow things up, the last of the day where she was Louise, Rhyme Dragon Summoner, Mistress of one of the most impressive familiars short of Brimir's own.

* * *

Hello, been a while again, hopefully the kind of longer chapter is appreciated. To preemptively answer some questions, I decided he might have reading glasses because it probably would eventually get annoying to switch into a smaller humanoid form (Oh yeah, The Dragon Aspects actually do have those,) every time he wanted to read a mortal book. That and it seems like something pre-War of the Ancients Malygos, who seemed the most light hearted of the aspects at the time from my knowledge, might actually have.

As far as Malygos treating this like a vacation goes, well, imagine you normally have to look out for the entirety of your race and magic itself, while also constantly feeding your scientific curiosity. Now after this, all you have to do is simply look after a single mortal, for possibly 100 or so years, which to a being as old as a dragon aspect, isn't too much. Looking after said mortal of course would take just enough attention that he couldn't get to cheat himself and start experimental or heavy research early.

To put it basically, this is like when a friend sees you've been overworking yourself and makes you use your vacation days to go on a cruise and won't let you bring work with you, except the friend is the chaotic forces of raw magic, and the cruise is being summoned suddenly to serve a tiny little human.

Oh, and if any of you didn't quite get the reason Malygos gave as to why he's mostly going with this, possibly because you're from ZnT/FoZ side initially or don't quite know this part of the WoW lore, by 'Long Distance' Malygos suspected he was pulled from across the Planes of existence.

All this aside, thank you for reading, any and all feedback is appreciated, even just flat out insulting my lineage.

EDIT: Replaced create Food/Water with Conjure Refreshments/Food. Create was the D&D version, which I accidentally confused with conjure, the actual WoW version. It is fixed now


	5. Chapter 5: Nice and Easy

Waking up, Louise yawned and stretched, before getting her day clothes to change into. While normally a noble would generally have their familiars dress them, Louise didn't particularly mind given what she got in return on thinking further about it though.

' _Really',_ Louise Thought as she finished pinning her black cloak to her uniform with a golden pendant, _"If anyone was told 'Your familiar can be a legendary dragon, but you have to dress yourself each day,' they would accept that price in a heartbeat."_

Walking down from her dorm to the main food hall, Louise noticed a number of looks passed her way, especially by the freshmen for some reason. Even as she sat down and started with her breakfast, the looks still continued, as well as the occasionally overheard whispers, most of which were along the lines of "I can't believe she summoned that. Normally Louise would pay these whispers no mind, but while the other Sophomores had the expected tone of non-belief, the freshmen had a tone of, awe? Louise wasn't sure, she could recognize the tone, but it was never directed at her, most certainly not. Yet as far as she could tell, that had to be it, the freshmen were somewhat looking up to her, I mean they also used that tone when talking about other sophomores familiars, but she hadn't expected it towards herself so it was an entirely new experience to her.

A new experience Louise didn't mind in fact, given how she smiled when she realized this. As she was partway through her breakfast, Kirche had sat down near to her, and Tabitha between them.

"Good morning Louise," Kirche said,

Louise, still in a pleasant mood and not willing to be the first to make this unpleasant said uncertainly, "Good morning, I suppose, Kirche von Zerbst, and you too Tabitha."

Tabitha simply nodded in acknowledgment and started eating, pulling out a book she had on her,

"'Scaled Creatures, Common Dos and Don'ts'," Louise noticed, "That actually sounds quite useful, where did you find it?"

"Library," Tabitha said.

"Now that I think about it, we all have scaled familiars, don't we?," Kirche said, to which a pair of agreements was raised,

"Does it has any advice on Fire Salamanders?" Kirche continued, "I still haven't tried asking the servants to bathe Flame yet since I don't want to risk his tail fire going out without knowing what that will happen. It's not a problem yet but it might become one after a while."

Tabitha said, "Don't know, haven't read."

Louise, imagining a dirt-covered Malygos, said, "Could I read that too?" as she leaned towards the one person in the academy shorter than herself,

Kirche leaned in towards Tabitha as well and asked, "The same for me?"

Tabitha simply nodded and kept eating, holding the book so the others could see it as well while reading. They all ate in relative silence, occasionally speaking up early on when Tabitha had turned the page too soon, but they eventually fell into a rhythm of sorts.

A touch later in the morning, Professor Colbert would be passing through the dining hall, both to get to his classroom to prepare his lesson for the day and, as many of the freshmen and a few sophomores were grateful for, to remind the students still there that classes were going to begin soon. He generally had that sort of attitude of putting those extra steps in for his students, and also managed to keep up with the goings on of the students gossip and such, which both explained why he was consistently the favorite teacher of most students at the school, as well as one of the most respected, even with his odd experiments here and there.

So imagine his surprise when going through the hall, he spotted Louise, Kirche, and Tabitha - all of which he had only once or twice ever tell them to get going to class, two of which had been rivals and as opposite as fire and water since the first weeks of their freshmen years, and the third known for being extensively reclusive - seemingly having gotten caught up in reading partway through and discussing the same book. Honestly, seeing Tabitha socialize, at least compared to her normal state of affairs, and Louise and Kirche talk together, nearly shocked him more than Malygos' first appearance.

Walking by, Colbert Said, "You might want to be off soon, unless I'm mistaken you all have Chevreuse, and she's starting her lesson in about ten minutes."

At this Kirche said, "Thank you, Mr. Colbert, We'll be going now."

Louise said, "Yes, thank you, Mr. Colbert," the ever so slightest sign of embarrassment on her face having let the time pass her by.

Tabitha nodded and placed a small piece of blank parchment as a bookmark into the book before putting it away, although Colbert caught a glimpse of the title of the book. As they went their separate ways Colbert smiled and thought, " _Something as simple as a similarity between familiars had managed to bring those three together, at least for a time. It's almost funny how life can work like that sometimes._ "

* * *

Today's lesson with Chevreuse was focused on a new part of Earth Magic, transmutation. She had already demonstrated it by turning a small rock into brass, shaping it into the shape of the pendants used to pin cloaks was just to slightly show off how she was a triangle class Earth Mage.

Chevreuse had laid out a number of various sized rocks and pebbles from a bag and asked, "Would anyone like to try their hand at it?"

She had gotten no response, so she snapped her fingers, drawing the room's attention,

"I don't know what's so interesting outside that window, nor will I look, right now I am teaching!" She said, oblivious to Malygos' eye looking in through the window.

Guiche had volunteered and managed to transmute a pebble about the size of a large toe into brass.

"Good work, as expected of an Earth Mage and a Gramont." Chevreuse said, "Would anyone else care to try? De La Valliere, why don't you come up here?"

Louise had stood up and walked forward, and while there was no shouting about her success rate, there were a large number of nervous glances, and Guiche looked ready to flip the desk he shared with Montmorency for protection any second. She had taken the time to say the chant that was outlined on the board to help beginners focus themselves, earning an approving nod from Chevreuse, and moved her wand to transmute the small pebble in front of her into brass.

From outside, Malygos' eyes widened slightly as he saw the rock crack and fly apart, and in that moment-

 _There was no explosion._

The entirety of the class, barring Chevreuse who was out of the loop as teachers went, seemed surprised, even Louise wasn't entirely certain what happened.

Later, after Chevreuse's class was over and Louise was having her Lunch in Vestri Court, Kirche had sat near to her again.

"Well Louise, You must be on some kind of streak, given how you actually controlled your failure this time," Kirche said teasingly.

Louise, still feeling odd from earlier said, "No, this felt different from when I normally try to cast spells."

Kirche said, "Different? Well, keep doing that then, it would save the school on replacing damages."

Louise said, "No, in a way I had no control over. You know how after expending your willpower, you'll still feel the attempt at casting had happened even if it didn't work, as well as the loss of Willpower?"

Kirche nodded, "Yes, I felt that when my family was still trying to find my affinity and had me casting water spells."

Louise said, "Well, I felt the loss of willpower, but I didn't get the feeling that I had cast anything, even unsuccessfully, afterward. I only felt like I was using magic for the smallest split second, faster than blinking."

Kirche said, confused as well, "But we all saw the pebble break and fly off, do you mean to say that wasn't you?"

"No, that was the split second I felt like I was casting, but aside from that, _It was like my magic had never cast anything_ ," Louise said, shuddering at the end.

Kirche was silent as she imagined it and also shuddered, before suddenly hugging Louise, just as much for herself as Louise. Louise had pried herself free but hadn't bothered to chastise Kirche. The reason for this was that to a Noble, a Mage, the idea of being entirely unable to use magic, not even being able to feel the attempt, was terrifying to think of. It was the topic of a number of horror stories, a few of which inspired by the somewhat common nightmare among nobles of trying to cast some spell over and over but being entirely unable to feel the attempt, as though they were just waving a stick. Kirche herself had that nightmare once when she was young, and when she told her parents they too had had that same nightmare when they were young.

Overall, it wasn't a very foreign idea or even unimaginable, but to have it actually happen must be a terrible experience which could easily explain why Louise had been 'zoning out' since that point in class, even having to ask Tabitha for her notes to copy at a few points. Kirche had wanted to say something reassuring, but there was nothing for the situation. Kirche did wonder, " _Could it be that in summoning that dragon, Malygos I believe, she expended herself that much?"_

After Louise had finished eating, she still had time before her next class, so she walked off the school grounds and called for Malygos with the Familiar link. Malygos soon flew in from the forest and asked, "Yes, Summoner Louise?"

Louise said, "What were you doing looking into my class like that?!"

"Oh, I couldn't help myself, even If I couldn't hear what was happening in there," Malygos said.

"You're lucky Chevreuse didn't notice, now don't bother me during my classes, actually, don't look in on any of the classes unless I say so, got it!" Louise said, a touch more mirthful.

"Alright then, _Mistress Louise_ ," Malygos said before flying back off into the forest, leaving the pinkette annoyed at how her own familiar seemed to get the last laugh.

* * *

Later during their next class in the tower of fire with Mr. Colbert, she had seemed to somewhat recover, taking notes and even trying to add rough illustrations of the spells Mr. Colbert was demonstrating for the class, although it was generally difficult to draw a moving fire.

As the lesson was beginning to draw towards a close Mr. Colbert had said, "Alright, the main lesson is over so you can all start to put your materials away, I hope none of you are too disappointed your first lesson after the day of the void was all on theory. While you're still here however, I need some brief assistance."

He pulled away a covering that had been hiding a large thing that looked like a block of iron, with wheels on its sides and cylinders poking out from its top.

He continued, "I simply need one of you to cast some kind of fire spell into this since I'm low on willpower after demonstrating all day, Lousie, how about you help me, come up."

Louise walked up and after being told where to cast the fire spell, into an area within the thing containing an amount of some liquid that smelled bad, was given a large and thick long-sleeved and extremely long tabard of leather going down to her legs to put on over her uniform, as well as a helmet of iron with a gridded visor and extension of chain mail to protect her face and neck with, the chain mail to be tucked under the tabard, and finally a pair of thick leather gloves to tuck the sleeves into. Mr. Colbert put on a similar suit as well, and after making sure the front few rows were cleared told Louise, "Cast in three, two, one, cast!"

Louise tried to cast a fireball into the space Colbert had indicated before, and as she expended her willpower-

 **BOOM!**

A large explosion hit the spot, causing the things cylinders to move quite fast for a second, as well as the wheels on the side. That happened as the explosion also managed to break the table, sending splinters of wood for a distance, none further than the first row and none managing to even get stuck in the outfits Colbert had put together. The most prominent factor aside from the explosion, which was dampened either by distance or suit, was the bad smell that seemed to spread throughout the room and how Louise had been knocked over by the force of said explosion.

Colbert said as he helped Louise up, who seemed surprisingly relieved from behind the helmet, "That was all, everyone is excused for dinner!"

He added specifically towards Louise as the class was leaving, "Before you leave, help me open the windows so we can get that smell out of here, then hand me back that safety uniform I gave you."

Louise did so and after she handed him back the 'Safety Uniform', Colbert asked, "Before you go, Louise, was there something bothering you during class? I thought I saw something was off."

Louise pondered on whether to tell Colbert for a second, as in a literal second, and decided to explain what had happened. Colbert shuddered and said, "Oh my, that would affect anybody. If that's the case, if you'd want I can lend you my own notes on the lesson plan for today, just this once of course."

Louise shook her head, "No, I couldn't! Thank you very much, Mr. Colbert! And, um.."

"Yes Louise?"

"Did you delay me to ask without the class nearby on purpose, Mr. Colbert?" Louise asked.

Mr. Colbert smiled and said, "If you hurry you might be able to catch up with your class on their way to the dining hall Louise,"

Louise smiled and said, "Thank you again, Mr. Colbert," before running off.

* * *

Glad to be back again, at least for writing this chapter. As usual, I genuinely love reading your reviews of this, no matter how short or long, and I typically keep them open in another tab while writing, so they do help in that regard too. That and more reviews will probably help me be seen just slightly earlier by the people who sort by review. Regardless, it makes me very happy to know that some people like this enough to Follow this, or favorite this (Nearly 100 of you!). With that on my mind, am I really that alright at writing? So far, what do you think of how I write? The Story in general so far? Just tell me anything, I'm glad to hear.


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